Elon Musk alleges employee sabotage in email to Tesla staff

Elon Musk wrote in a memo that an employee sent out “large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties.” (Joshua Lott / Getty Images)

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said an employee confessed to carrying out “extensive and damaging sabotage” to company operations in an email sent out to his entire staff.

In the memo, obtained by CNBC, Musk wrote that an unidentified staffer exported “large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties” and made direct code changes to Tesla manufacturing operating systems under the guise of phony user names.

“The full extent of his actions are not yet clear, but what he has admitted so far is pretty mad,” reads the email, which was sent out just before midnight on Sunday.

“His stated motivation is that he wanted a promotion that he did not receive. In light of these actions, not promoting him was definitely the right move.”

The 46-year-old billionaire said the automobile company will continue to investigate in the coming weeks to determine whether this person had been working alone, noting there may be “more to this situation than what meets the eye.”

Musk continued on to assert there is no shortage of people “that want to see Tesla die.” Wall Street short sellers, oil and gas companies and other competitors were among those the tech CEO put on the short list of the company’s enemies.

It’s unclear whether Tesla is pursuing legal action.

The memo Sunday was followed by another email from Musk alerting staff to a fire near the company’s “body-in-white production line.” He hinted at foul play there as well, calling the incident — which halted production for several hours — “strange.”

It’s not the first time Tesla has examined the possibility of a saboteur in its ranks — in 2016 Musk and SpaceX Chief Operating Officer and President Gwynne Shotwell also investigated possible sabotage after a SpaceX rocket exploded while being fueled up ahead of an engine test.

The company drama comes as Tesla is ramping up production to meet its goal of pumping out 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of June. Tesla last week announced widespread restructuring and laid off 9% of its workforce.